Northern Maori seat

Press, 6 May 1980, Page 24

Northern Maori seat

The by-election for the Northern Maori seat brought about by the resignation from Parliament of the sitting member, Mr Rata, will test a number of allegiances. Mr Rata, having left the Labour Party last November, aims to marshal Maori opinion in support of his Manu Motuhake movement. The voters will still have to choose between traditional party loyalty and the new party. At the last General Election, Mr Rata took the seat with a margin of 4944 votes. Whether the vote was personal support for Mr Rata or for Mr Rata as the Labour Party candidate was not significant then. The by-election on June 7 should establish the personal following Mr Rata commands. Mr Rata plans to make an issue of Maori affairs and grievances in a Maori electorate. In response, the Labour Party is increasing its emphasis on Maori affairs and arguing that as a former Minister of Maori Affairs, and as the Maori Policy Council chairman, Mr Rata has been in the position to do more than he has done. In fact, the Labour Party is saying that Mr Rata was a cause of the lack of progress. Mr Rata, presumably, will reply that he was not listened to. For this he may be partly to blame himself. His strengths have not lain in clarity and conciseness in articulating problems. That may again be apparent as the campaign develops. What he failed to do in the past he may fail to do in the future. The by-election will also test the

curious link between the Ratana Church and the Labour Party, which have been bound together in a pact since the 19305. Although the Ratana Church membership has declined in recent years, its political influence is still believed to be strong. Practically all members of Parliament representing Maori seats have been members of the Ratana Church and Mr Rata is himself a minister of the Church. No reports have suggested that Mr Rata is appealing in an overt way to the Ratana Church but he may well have judged such an appeal to be improper. As far as could be ascertained from Christchurch yesterday, Dr Bruce Gregory, the Labour Party candidate, is not a member of the Ratana Church. How much influence the Ratana Church has and how strong its loyalties to one of its ministers are, may be clearer after the by-election.

The fact that the National Party will not field a candidate will sharpen the contest between Mr Rata and the Labour Party candidate. Although a Social Credit candidate is standing, it seems unlikely that the race is other than between Mr Rata and the Labour Party. The choice of a doctor by the Labour Party appears to continue the tendency of recent years to select a professional candidate. That aspect of Labour Party practice may turn out to have longer-term implications than the incidents which .forced the Northern Maori electorate by-election.